The Delhi High Court has asked the Customs Department to respond to a petition filed by IndiGo Airlines over the collection of more than ₹900 crore in duties on aircraft engines and parts that were sent abroad for repairs and later brought back into India.
The airline has questioned why it was asked to pay customs duty again when the parts were re-imported after repairs. IndiGo told the court that it had already paid the required customs duty at the time of re-entry and had also paid GST on the repair services, since repairs are treated as a service under tax laws.
Despite this, customs officials allegedly treated the return of the repaired parts as a fresh import and demanded additional duty. IndiGo argued that this resulted in double taxation for the same transaction.
According to the airline, this issue had earlier been settled in its favour, with authorities ruling that customs duty cannot be charged again on parts returning after repairs. Even after changes were made to the rules later, those changes were meant to apply only going forward. IndiGo also pointed out that the practice of charging duty again had subsequently been declared invalid.
However, the airline said it was forced to pay the duty to avoid delays in clearing engines and critical components, which could have grounded aircraft. Since customs clearance depends on official approval, IndiGo said it had no option but to pay the amounts under protest across more than 4,000 clearances, adding up to over ₹900 crore.
When IndiGo later applied for refunds, the requests were rejected. Customs authorities insisted that each clearance would first need to be re-examined. IndiGo argued that this requirement was unnecessary, as the payments were clearly made under protest and formal decisions had already been issued in each case.
The airline also disputed the department&rsquo;s reliance on a past Supreme Court ruling, saying it applied only to cases where duty was paid willingly and not to situations like IndiGo&rsquo;s, where payment was made to avoid disruption.
The court has now asked Customs to file its response. The matter is scheduled to be heard next year.

Delhi HC seeks Customs reply on IndiGo refund plea

Airline challenges duty on repaired aircraft parts, seeks ₹900 crore refund from Customs

Delhi HC seeks Customs reply on IndiGo refund plea

Airline challenges duty on repaired aircraft parts, seeks ₹900 crore refund from Customs

December 19, 2025 | 16:56 IST